Being “gameful” in the development and use of educational games:

Playing games to learn is not a new concept, yet in January of 2011, the first “Gamification Summit” in San Francisco met where they discussed the use of games for turbo-charging project, using levels and rewards to drive behavior and turning real world activities into games.  Jane McGonigal, a gaming developer, has honed in on the “real world activities” and using gaming as a means to solve real world problems.  In the February 2011 Smithsonian issue, McGonigal was interview about computer-game development.  McGonigal discussed her coined term “gameful”, stating, “when you’re gameful, your creativity is sparked, your curiosity is sparked and you’re more likely to collaborate with others.  Your more likely to stick with a tough problem, even if you fail at first.” 

Here at OWP/Project DIRECT, we thought we would try out a “gameful” game that was designed to teach people social entrepreneurship.  Evoke, a game McGonigal developed, was designed to be an interactive graphic novel focused on missions and quests rather than assignments and test.  Here is what we found.

After learning about the mission, we headed to the “how to play” tab.  Here we found a serious of video tutorials that gave a basic overview to the structure of the game.  After watching all of the videos, we signed up for a free membership.  Next we began by viewing the “Episode 001”.  True to comic nature, the illustrations and text bubbles provide a playful and engaging means for content delivery but with real world issues that have occurred in the past and/or are threatening the future of civilization.  As we move through the comic we realize this is an investment of time and not anywhere near mindless entertainment. 

More investigation to continue, but in the mean time why don’t you take a look for yourself: http://www.urgentevoke.com/